All About Edinburgh

We had a chat with Iain, Aiste and Katie, our in-house creative team at our lovely Edinburgh Emporiumto find out what makes them tick and what they have to do to make our shop look fab!

Katie and Aiste working hard!

Iain arranging a display

How long have you worked at White Stuff?We've all worked here for nearly 3 years, since the shop opened.

Describe a typical day.
We start at 7am and aim to get many of our shop floor tasks completed before we open so this doesn’t have an impact on customer service (very important to us!). Early morning tasks include re-merchandising the stock, placing new lines, updating our mannequin styling and any creative (such as painting illustrations/signage). After lunch, if we are not assisting the stock team with deliveries, we do a lot of planning and prep. For example, in order to prepare for any floor moves, we will pull rails and look at the bestsellers of the womenswear clothes we are moving. We are also responsible for producing a weekly commercial report for the shop, so we work on this too. Creative research/prep for any displays that are working on for the coming season will also be considered.

How would you describe White Stuff Edinburgh?
The greatest customer experience in retail (and the most modest!). Not only is our wonderful Emporium stocked full of lovely White Stuff clothes, we also have some unique visual and creative displays that keep our customers interested as they make their way through the shop; past a vintage phone box beside a tree rising through the atrium to the first floor, towards the rear of ground floor where our garden sheds display our most popular wares. Upstairs to our library-themed footwear destination, across from our wall made of vintage reclaimed doors. Then it’s into Menswear which includes a wall mounted Scalextrix track and a Sega Mega drive for keeping the kids entertained. When our customers have all this in, they then get sample our famous ‘Narnia’ themed dressing rooms which include a retro pantry, bathroom and pretend kid’s bedrooms. If this visual assault on their senses has left them feeling somewhat tired, our Concierge will be on hand to serve them a tea or coffee in our comfy seating area.

Footwear display

Where do you get your inspiration?
We use a variety of media sites (such as Pinterest, Google Images etc.) as a starting point when brainstorming ideas for the new season. We also have a wall in our studio that serves as a visual reminder if we come across any magazine or newspaper pictures that inspire us. Anyone from the team can cut something out and pin it up there for future reference. We also enjoy coming up with ideas on how we can use current props differently, so a piece of furniture or old window scheme can also inspire us to do something new! The idea of ‘upcycling’ is important to the White Stuff aesthetic. We love to give something old or unloved a new lease of life!

We stay inspired by visiting exhibitions and try to stay on top of what’s happening in Edinburgh.

An inspiration board

What do the new autumn/winter windows have in store?
Inspired by our 'animal magic' theme, the autumn/winter windows are eye-catching and sophisticated, with a strong heritage twist. Bell Jars and vintage crates are used to display accessories, with the main centrepiece shows friendly household objects in place of traditional taxidermy!

Stag's head made out of coathangers!

What’s your favourite thing about the new windows?
There’s no one thing, really, just the overall 'feel' of the scheme. It’s very autumnal and works well in tandem with our new season clothing packages, particularly the dark cherry reds and steel of ‘Apothecary’s Daughter’. Props-wise, we love the'trophy heads' as we appreciate a display or window that has elements of humour and detail which are revealed with closer viewing - In this window, the comedic slant comes from the names of the 'animals'.

Animal stencils

Do you have a favourite White Stuff window display?We were all big fans of this year’s spring windows from the ‘For the Love of Lo-Fi'. These were based around the re-using and recycling of different objects, such as car tyres, computer keyboards and old tin cans, as planters for spring flowers. The contrast created a display that our customers loved. This was also a great 'wrap theme' in general as it allowed us to be really creative in the shop; we created a 50ft 'Happiness in Every Stitch' mural out of flowers!